The Barnstable Patriot
Editor s note: The following statement was approved by a positive majority vote of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors on June 4.
The Cape Cod Chamber has a long-standing track record of working with state and federal agencies on economic development projects and major regional infrastructure that impacts the region. We participated in the Community Working Group in 1997 to review the future uses at Joint Base Cape Cod, we participated in a decade-long effort to redesign and improve the state and federally owned transportation system (vehicular, rail and bike/pedestrian) in the Cape Cod Canal Area, and we have produced landmark legislation to address massive wastewater infrastructure needs as required by the Federal 208 Water Quality Plan. In all cases, a process of high community engagement was made available to our Chamber, and we stepped up to participate as productive citizen-partners in problem- solving dialogue.
I first met Chris Faux nearly 30 years ago, when I was a young, enthusiastic and committed federal employee, writing press releases and fighter pilot biographies under the leadership of Ernie Keating and Don Quenneville at the 102nd Fighter Wing on Otis Air National Guard Base. Chris was a similarly young, enthusiastic and committed environmental management officer who also had a military role with the 102nd. We worked closely together and were both deeply engaged in the early stages of what began as a contentious conflict between the government and the people it was supposed to serve, and wound up a national example for community engagement and collaboration.